PM64's Third Annual Christmas Special
by PokeMaster64
Summary: It's that time of the year again...after a three year hiatus! Better late than never, I guess! Let the good times of December roll with PokeMaster64's Christmas Special!
1. Chapter 1

I spun around into my neatly decorated living room, all set up for the holidays. A warm fire crackling in the background, wreaths hanging from the wall, and a lovely Christmas tree to tie the whole room together. It didn't get better than this, that's for sure.

"Because today is the day! My third annual Christmas special!" I exclaimed with a pep in my step.

"Yes, emphasis on the number three…as in you haven't had one for three years." I deflated and glared at the Charmeleon entering the room. Lo and behold, the classic of my stories, Ryder, with his hood down and cloak fluttering behind him. "Does this even count as a third annual if you, I don't know, haven't consecutively done one in the years?"

So, my counterpoint was, "Look, I've been busy dealing with college! You can forgive me for not having the time to plan this out thoroughly! I can't say I'd be able to do one for _every_ year. Still, things are doing better this year and I'm pretty excited. Secret of the Idol is doing well, Tribe of Fusions should potentially be wrapping up before or during summer, and I'm hoping to keep doing more."

Ryder wagged his claw. "You really think you'll have time to keep doing this even after college?"

"We'll talk about _that_ later down the line." I rubbed my hands together. "First item of business: the guest list. Who's coming?"

Ryder pulled out a tablet. "Well, we obviously can't bring everyone. Not sure if Jango's coming, or Diego and Chase."

"Ooh…Diego and Chase…" I awkwardly scratched behind my head. "Yeesh, I almost feel bad I haven't been working on Life in the City. I just don't have the same drive for it like the others. Plus…there is a LOT I could've done differently when it first started out."

"No kidding, Mr. 'Ryder-has-special-dream-ninja-powers' PM64."

"HEY!"

Ryder smirked. "You weren't exactly the best writer when you started out."

I slumped over and sighed. "…I know…" I waved my hand. "Alright, then who IS coming?"

"Obviously some of the guys from TOF and Team Ravenfield." Ryder raised his brow. "You think we should do what you did the other year and bring in a special guest for an upcoming fic? You did say you've been working on the first few chapters for Bandits of the Forest."

"That's still a long time from now. Though, given the first set of chapters I'm working on aren't battle heavy, I could have something ready to upload by the time Tribe of Fusions is finished. It's been in the works for a long time, but…" I sighed and slumped into a chair. "I have so many ideas and so little time to make them…"

"Eh, you've been at this for over…what, six years now? I'd say you've done a lot in that time." Ryder pushed the tablet into my chest. "You can either keep doing this as a side thing once you go out on your own or find a place to stop and go for the bigger fish. That's my advice anyway."

I smiled. "Heh…you're a lot more cooperative when you're not shouting at Dark's ghost."

Ryder rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me…" He raised his claw. "That reminds me. Laura's going to be joining in as well."

"I'm guessing from a different region again?"

"Bingo."

I pouted. "Well…at least I don't have to worry about her starting any fights." I stood up and held my fists up high. "Right! I want to make this a great special for everyone! It is pretty nice answering everyone's questions." I grinned. "Plus…maybe a little look into the earlier drafts of my stories. Should be an interesting treat to explore, especially for Secret of the Idol."

"That's the spirit."

 _DING DONG!_

I smiled. "Would you look at that? Our first guest! Let them in, Ryde!"

Ryder went to the door and let in the first of many guests: Quinn, Artemis, Ren, Tamara, Ulysses, and Juniper.

"What up, my peeps?" Juniper exclaimed, chugging a can of diet cola down.

"Hey guys!" I greeted, walking up to the entrance. "Rest of you not coming?"

Quinn shrugged. "We figured you would rather have the OCs you came up with come instead. This is supposed to be a thing to celebrate a year of your work, right?"

"True. Plus…well, once Team Ravenfield gets here, the place is going to be PACKED." I crouched down and patted Juniper. "I take it you're upset Wash won't be joining us?"

Juniper smirked. "Speak for yourself. When I get home, we're going to be snuggling up to the fire and sipping hot cocoa…with a little cola mixed in, but he doesn't need to know that."

"That sounds…really disgusting…"

"Probably will, but I'll try it!" She let herself in, chugging down the can.

I sighed, then let the rest in. "So…how does it feel knowing Tribe of Fusions will be coming to an end sometime in the summer?"

Tamara cracked her neck. "Kind of unbelievable. Though, as long as we get the proper send off, I'm good."

"Yeah, I've seen your work schedule for it!" Ren exclaimed. "Dude, you're going to be FREAKIN' wiped!"

I sighed and pinched between my eyes. "Why do I do this to myself?"

Artemis snickered as she wrapped her feelers around Quinn. "Well, we're going to get settled by the fire before the show starts. Come on, Spooks." Quinn followed her without resistance.

I turned to Ulysses and gestured him in. "Come on, Ulysses, the guests won't bite."

Ulysses gulped. "I-I know, but…I actually brought someone else with me."

"Huh? Who-?"

"Hello!" Harper suddenly jumped out from behind Ulysses and landed on my head. "I'm ready to party!"

"GAH! Harper!"

Not just Harper, but Dakota also joined inside. "Heh…sorry, she really wanted to come, so…who was I to resist?"

"What about the other kids?"

"Oh, I'm having Hawkins babysit them…between you and me, I think he secretly likes the attention."

"You are surprisingly devious for a well-mannered school teacher."

Dakota shrugged. "I'm nice to children, not people my age." She rubbed her hands together. "Anyway, I heard there was cocoa."

"Kitchen," I directed her.

"Thanks." She walked past me.

Harper pressed her paws up against my face. "When do I get my present?"

"Heh…maybe later."

"Aww…"

I took the Eevee-Ditto to the couch and set her down, then handed her a candy cane. She thanked me and started gnawing on it. I sat down next to her and took a moment to relax while Ryder was getting video coverage with Laura set up.

"So, where's she parked this time? Still in Cinnabar?"

"Actually, she's in Lumiose City."

"That would've been my second guess."

Ryder got the set up working, then dialed up Laura. He took a step back as we watched the call go through on screen. It took a moment, but the screen popped up with Laura in the center. She appeared to be lounging in a hotel room, wearing a fancy white scarf, wide rimmed pink hat, and sunglasses (classic Laura).

She flicked her sunglasses up and smirked. "Heeey. What's shaking, people?"

"Laura. Good to see you're still finding ways to beat the cold."

"I'm just waiting until you get around to my side story," she admitted. "At least once you finish working on the depressed lizard's."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Ryder mumbled.

"Speaking of, when are you getting around to TFONL's sequel?" Laura asked.

I held my hands up. "Look, I know people have questions. Believe me, I want to finish that stuff when the time comes. I've got plans for next year, especially once I'm through with TOF. In the meantime, how about we just enjoy this time together before we get down to answering everyone's questions?"

Laura shrugged and flicked her sunglasses back down. "Whatever you say."

I turned away from the screen and went to grab some hot cocoa when the doorbell rang again. "Oh, they're here!" I rushed to the door and whipped it open. "Hello, Team Ravenfield!"

The Ravenfield gang was dressed completely in winter clothing. Wes grinned and raised his paw to me. "What up, Brad? Give me paw!" I laughed and high-fived his paw. "Thanks for having us!"

"Well, I feel you deserve a proper appearance after your cameo last time."

"Who's coming on today?"

"Oh, that's a surprise for later." I smiled at the others. "Ella, Flint, Gwyn, Tony, Griffin…great to have all of you with us."

Tony smirked. "I was promised cocoa, so it better be worth not hanging out with my mom and sis."

"Is everyone here just for the cocoa?" I mumbled to myself.

"No, I'm here for the candy canes!" Gwyn squealed. She hooked her arms around Flint and jumped up and down. "Come on, Flinty, I want candy canes! Pleeeeeease!"

Flint laughed. "Alright, alright, we just got here. Come on." He led her inside as the others trudged in. Griffin closed the door behind him.

Ella snickered behind her paw. "D'aww, look at them."

I laughed. "Yeah, it is pretty cute."

Griffin crossed his arms. "So…how does this work?"

"Well, while I will be answering readers' questions, I'm also going to take a new spin on things and explain some of the original conceptions for my stuff. I got a lot to share for Secret of the Idol, and maybe some insight on Bandits of the Forest, as I'm in quite the mood to talk about that."

Ella smirked. "Sounds nice. Can't wait to hear about it." She walked off to the couch to mingle with the Fusions.

Wes scratched under his hat. "We could all use a break after everything that happened. Let's enjoy this Christmas celebration while we can!" He ran off to get some snacks.

Tony rubbed his hands together. "Annnd…I think I'm going to get myself acquainted with those fine ladies over there." He walked over to mingle with the Fusions as well.

Griffin narrowed his eyes. "…They all have boyfriends, don't they?"

I chuckled. "Except Tamara, buuut Tony would have the same amount of luck either way."

"Right…you have any yache juice around here?" He walked on in, hands stuffed in his pockets.

I pouted. "He's a grump no matter where he goes." I laughed it off, then joined them by the couch. "Well, that's what I get for writing him as such." I sat down between Juniper and Flint on the couch and sat back.

"So, I figured we do the same as last time. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask to your heart's content…within reason, of course. And, unlike last time, you're limited to just three questions instead of three to five. Aside from that, I thought it would be nice to have a little segment where we talk about the original concepts for the stories when they first came about. We already know I change a lot of things, like with The Assassin and the Princess, but Secret of the Idol has gone through a lot more than I intended, even some bits of Tribe of Fusions. This should be fun for everyone. Just to remind anyone who isn't caught up with either, this might have the potential to lead to spoilers. And remember to stick around when we'll be bringing in our special guest.

"Let's get this Christmas special started!"


	2. Chapter 2

I sipped on some hot cocoa while the others were getting themselves situated in the living room. Artemis and Ella seemed to be getting along pretty well, although I worried having two of the most mischievous Eeveelutions in the same room was a bad idea. Best to keep my distance.

"Well…let's see what we have for questions." I pressed a button on a remote and a cardboard box fell out of the ceiling, landing…on my feet. "YOW!" I cradled my aching foot. "Ugh…I should've measured where that would have landed…"

Harper poked at the box. "What is it?"

"Well, unlike last year, I'm just going to be opening letters instead of doing the wheel."

Laura tapped her chin. "You know, between the hatch and computer screens, I have to ask…where did you get the money to afford all this stuff?"

"That is the power of being the editor of my own dialogue."

"I fear the day you decide to bring in a character who can break the fourth wall."

"So…do I…" I shuddered at the thought. "They could screw with the dialogue if I'm not careful…" I shook it off. "A-Anyway, that's not important. We've got a sizable stack of letters to get through. I figured since not everyone had questions, might as well read their comments and see what they have to say." I pulled a letter out.

Ryder leaned back and crossed his arms. "So, when's your special guest going to get here?"

"Oh, she'll arrive at the end of the chapter. She'll be then free to answer questions about Bandits of the Forest or herself. She's going to be an interesting character to write when we get to that." I peeled the envelope open and held out the letter. "Alright, who's first on the list?"

Ella looked over my shoulder. "Looks like we've got **Shettipoo** first!"

"Yeti who?" Gwyn asked, distracted with eating candy canes.

"No, Shettipoo," I corrected. "Ahem…let's see…"

" _Yay! I've really wanted to tell you how much I loved FTLOP and TFONL! They were the first lagomorph-fics I ever read and has to be my favorite. I've also gotten quite attached to many of the characters. I felt Ryder's pain when he talked about how much he missed his trainer and girlfriend. I wanted to hug Laura when she experienced heartache. I loved Dark's entire attitude, how nonchalant he was about everything. I remember how exited I got when Scarlet hatched from the egg. My heart truly melted with her adorableness."_

I laughed. "I'm really glad you enjoyed them. Admittedly, I could've done FTLOP a lot differently, especially with how much I've improved, but I'm glad to see people still enjoy the original stuff. Ryder is certainly one of my most complex protagonists."

Ryder nodded. "Being in that forest has not done me any good. I can't go anywhere without seeing Dark everywhere. It's honestly annoying…and intimidating…"

"And when it comes to Dark, he's unlike any other villain character I've created. I'd dare say he's stronger than Inferno after becoming the next Bearer of Hatred and Evil. Dark was literally created with the idea of being an unstoppable force." I shuddered. "I can only imagine having him on set with us…"

Laura pouted. "Dark…" She shook her head. "Alright, what about me?"

"Laura, there's no denying a lot of people like you. To think, you were nothing more than a tool when I first came up with you, but now you have your own will and personality. I'd say I made the right call making you your own character."

Laura smirked. "You got that right, bub." She flicked her sunglasses down.

"Hehe…and yeah, I do have a soft spot for writing adorable little kiddos like Scarlet…" I laughed when Harper jumped into my lap and purred against me. "And Harper, of course."

Dakota giggled. "Harper, get off of him."

"Nah, she's fine." I stroked her back, then looked down at the question. "And Shettipoo's question is:

" _ **But I have a question for Ryder. Before you started traveling, what were the things you did back at the lab?"**_

Ryder leaned back. "Well, given how timid I was, I didn't hang around with the other Pokémon too much, save for Pikachu. I usually tried to come up with a way to get trainers to pick me, but they never worked out. How bizarre, given that Charizard is freakin' popular among the fandom." He scratched under his chin. "I did watch TV, but I stopped after I got on the road."

I smiled. "Kind of wish I could be a Pokémon sometimes. Though, I'd probably suck at battling…unless I was a Wobbuffet…"

Griffin smacked me in the back of the head. "You're getting sidetracked."

"Eh?! Oh, right…" I placed Shettipoo's letter away, then reached for another. "Hmm…aha! Here's a regular around my stuff! We've got **austin todd 315**!" Everyone clapped.

"Isn't his name spelled with periods?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah, friendly tip to anyone using the site. If you use a period between letters without spacing them out, the right half will get cut off. At least that's what it did every time I've done it. But yeah, Mr. Austin here is a regular around here. Great guy, and he has a couple stories on his page you all could check out for yourselves."

Juniper sipped her soda. "Well, hurry up, read the dang letter!"

"Okay, okay!" I ripped the envelope open and got to reading:

" _The third one comes three years after the second... This was a master plan, wasn't it?"_

"Ah shit, he's onto me!"

" _ **As for Ryder's dream abilities, does this mean that your retconing them? You could always just say that it is a side effect of having Lord Dark's Aura inside of him, because Lord Dark can do the same exact thing."**_

"Since you have two official questions, I'll just assume this as your third. And yeah, that could be a valid reason, but Ryder barely had any control of his abilities back then, so it's hard to say. Besides, I already did retcon the ability when I said he had…brainwave generator…devices…"

Ryder rolled his eyes. "Yeah…good save there, pal."

"Ah shut up! I would've done the dream sequence differently had I established things better. Also, I'm glad you're looking forward to Bandits of the Forest. I'm actually in the early stages of writing up the chapters, so I've already gotten some written up. I'm just waiting to post them at the right time. Maybe when Tribe of Fusions draws to a close. We'll get to that soon enough. Anyway, continuing-"

" _ **To Ryder and the TSOTI Cast: If you were Fusions in TOF, what would you want your second half to be?"**_

Ryder scratched his chin. "Ooh, that's a good question. What would be the best half to compliment my abilities? I could say Lucario, which would definitely be my Top 3 pick, but…you know what, I'm going with Zeraora."

"The Thunderclap Pokémon?" I asked.

"Well, if Tamara can move with the nimbleness of a Meowth and the speed of an Accelgor, imagine how fast I could be as a Charmeleon-Zeraora. Speed's my game, after all."

I laughed. "What was I expecting? Actually, that would be some interesting fanart of you. Ryder, the secret agent Charmeleon-Zeraora! Hehehe…"

Wes grinned. "Well, I'd definitely have to go as an Umbreon-Arcanine! Can you imagine how freakin' majestic and cool I would look? I'd be the most legendary looking treasure hunter in Mysto!"

Ella smirked. "Well, can't argue with that. I'd say I would be…an Espeon-Furfrou. A fashionable looking gem like me should also look beautiful as a Fusion, right?"

Tony laughed. "You tell 'em, Lavender." He scratched under his chin. "Well, I don't want to feel like a copycat choosing Zeraora, so…I'm going with a Dewott-Raikou. Same principle, different Pokémon."

Gwyn clasped her hands into her lap and grinned. "Hee…I'd be a Mew-Bounsweet. I want to be super sweet as a Fusion!"

Flint smiled. "Oh Gwyn…you're already the sweetest thing in the multiverse."

"Aww! Flinty!" She hugged him and kissed his cheek, which embarrassed him greatly, but he enjoyed it.

"Hehe…" He put his foreleg around her hesitantly. "To…anyone who hasn't read the most recent chapter of TSOTI…sorry for the spoiler." He looked up in thought. "So, what would I be? Hmm…well, out of sheer curiosity, I'd like to be a Flareon-Mudsdale. They're strong and powerful…plus, it would help me protect Gwyn."

"D'aww! I'd bet you'd look cute as a Flareon-Mudsdale!" She snuggled up against him.

"Hehehe…h-hey, not in front of everyone, Gwyn!" he pleaded in amusement.

I laughed. "So Griffin, what about-?"

"Grovyle-Bisharp."

"…What was I expecting?" I looked back at the letter. "Moving on."

" _ **To sort of branch off of that question a bit, to any of the OCs who have an answer: If you were to cross over to/exist within any of PM64's other stories (and your abilities/other qualities instead applied to the laws of THAT Universe rather than the one that you actually come from), which story would you feel most at home in?"**_

"Well, obviously, I can't have everyone answer that or we'll be here all night." I gestured to the OCs. "Alright gang, who has a say about this?"

There was murmuring among the group before Tamara raised her hand. "I'd be curious to visit Ryder's home world, simply due to the evil that needs to be taken down." She cracked her knuckles. "His world could use a hero like me to straighten them out."

Juniper snickered behind her soda can. "You still haven't thought of a working name yet-"

"I'M WORKING ON IT!"

Juniper laughed. "Well, I wouldn't mind crashing in Neo City back in LITC. That place sounds like a party."

Wes grinned. "I suppose anywhere besides my world would put a hamper on my magic, since I wouldn't be able to sense any other lifeforms."

"I'd probably go to TOF, anyway," Tony admitted. "I could pass for an electric Dewott or something."

I nodded. "Well, those are some stellar answers to work with." I placed the letter away and dug around through the box. "Alright, here's the next one. Ah, and it appears we've got one from **Second Legion Scout** , who…" I opened the letter…then threw it away. "Alright, skipping that one."

"Why?" Gwyn asked.

"Rather not deal with that drama when we're supposed to be having fun." I pulled from the box again. "Okay, here's an ACTUAL comment, and from another regular: **Void Reader**."

"Ah, good ol' Void," Tony commented. "Always the excitable one when a new chapter gets uploaded. Although, doesn't he have his own page on here? Why does he keep coming in as a guest?"

"Beats me." I opened the letter and read through it:

" _ **Didn't know TOF was finishing by summer, not that I wasn't expecting it to end soon but nevertheless, u said u might get back to Life in the City after finishing TOF n TSOTI, so does that mean we still have to wait till TSOTI is done to expect any LITC updates?"**_

"Yes, by my own count, there's a good chance TOF will be drawing to a close over the summer. These days, I write out the summaries for chapters to keep myself on track and, at my current pace, I should have the story done by summer. Of course, these next upcoming chapters are going to take a little longer to do. Though, I might make shorter ones when we eventually get around to the Fusion War Arc, just so I'm not spending too much time on one battle after another.

"Now…for the current state of Life in the City…" I sighed and leaned back. "Alright, here's the thing. After looking back at how I originally started out LITC, I was…generally unhappy with the presentation. This was one of the Big 3 stories when I first started out. I wanted to take a different route with it than FTLOP and TAATP. However, I just lost a lot of the drive to write it because it wasn't in my usual style.

"I'm better at writing long narrative pieces instead of single chapter adventures that don't carry over into the next. So, to say the least, I might not actually get around to updating LITC anytime in the future. If I do ever get back into it, I might just do a reboot of the whole thing and start from scratch.

"Believe me, I wanted to continue with it, but I just can't bring out the same ambition for it."

Harper patted my hand. "There, there…"

I smiled and scratched her head. "Heh…but hey, I'm hoping Bandits of the Forest makes up for it. I'm really getting into working on that." I reached for the box. "Now then…"

"Already have one!" Juniper exclaimed, holding up the next letter. "It's from **ApiphobicDalmatianLass**. Can I read this one, Bradster!"

"Uh…heh, sure, Juniper."

"Sweet! Ahem…"

" _So, where do I start? First, hey there pal. You may never heard of me before, but I've been following your stories since forever (FTLOPLITC are my absolute favorite ones), though I didn't manage to keep up with TSOTITOF. And for that, I apologizeSecondI wanted to tell you this since I started writing on this siteThank you. Thank you for existing, both you and your stories. You were the one who inspired me to start writing my own stories and I can't thank you enough for that. And I find it amazing that you find time for your fics despite college and stuff. I wish I could manage school and stories as good as you do :D"_

I smiled. "Is that so? I'm really glad you enjoyed my stories that much, Lass. I'd always hope someone would take inspiration from my work. It's the same reason I got into writing on this site, too, and even do some of my own original stuff."

"A shame she hasn't kept up with TOF," Juniper said. "After all, I'm an absolute gem throughout the whole thing!"

Quinn smirked. "Ah yes, a darling, lazy buffoon."

"Hush, you!"

"And trust me," I continued, "it's pretty difficult finding time between exams, assignments, and such. I wasn't even sure I could do another one of these with my week, but…eh, screw it, I wanted to do something fun this month."

" _And lastly, I can't wait to read BOTF. Even if it takes forever, I'll patiently wait for you to publish the first chapter. I just know it's gonna be awesome, like the rest of your stories."_

"I might start uploading it by the time TOF is finished, maybe with a month in between so I can work on TSOTI in the meantime. Heck, since I've got some chapters worked out, I might upload it early and just post chapters every month or something before I fully commit to it. If anyone wants that, I could start uploading BOTF in January and just upload a chapter a month or some kind of time interval.

"But I am glad you're looking forward to it. I may talk a little about it, especially once our special guest arrives to ask questions. BOTF is going to be fairly different to some of my current fanfics."

" _Unfortunately, I have no questions to ask your characters. But I'll say this: Everyone, I wish you all good luck in your quests and may you never, ever lose sight of what's really importantAlright then, stay cool dude and I shall see you next time"_

Juniper grinned. "Well, it was really nice talking to you, Ms. Lass! Trust me, we're going to go all the way in our journeys!"

I nodded. "Hopefully we see more of you around, Lass. Again, glad you're enjoying my stories. Plenty more to come down the line." I pulled another letter out. "Okay, next we have… **Plague Dog UnleasheD**!"

"D-Didn't you a-already send him a message when he first commented?" Ulysses asked.

"Yeah, but…it'd be rude not to include him, too."

"You threw away the other-"

"Moving on!"

" _Wait...ITS HAPPENING! OH MY GOD ITS HAPPENING! EVERYBODY STAY CALM JUST CALM DOWN! BRAD IS DOING IT AGAIN SO CALM DOWN! Let's see what "mister college" has for us now. I am very calm."_

"Yes…you are the definition of 'calm,' my friend…" I covered my mouth and stifled a laugh. "Heh…well, it's obvious they're in a good mood. Thanks for the comment, Plague." I placed the letter away. "Anyone want to pull out the next letter?"

"I'm on it!" Tony reached down and pulled it out. "Ah, anyone familiar with a chap named **Umbreonic65**?"

My, Laura, Ryder, and Wes' eyes widened. "Oh no…"

"What?" Tony asked. "Bad guy?"

"Eh…no, Umbreonic is a pretty cool guy, but…he left a rather…distasteful impression on Jango the last time he asked questions."

"Distasteful?" Tony peaked into the letter and read the first few lines over…then gave an apologetic look to Flint. "Um…sorry in advance, pal."

"Huh?!" the Flareon exclaimed.

I sighed, then smiled. "Uh…don't take any offense, Umbreonic. We always look forward to your rather…insightful questions. But in all seriousness, good to hear from you again."

"Ha! Just wait until the bookworm starts throwing a fit!" Laura exclaimed, laughing her head off.

"Seriously, what are you talking about?!" Flint shouted, waving his forelegs.

Tony cleared his throat. "Well…how about we get right on it? Ahem…"

" _Hello I'm back again! You may remember me from the last christmas special when I asked Jango all of those hard hitting questions that made him pretty mad. That aside lets get to those hard hitting questions yet again."_

" _ **1\. For Flint if Wes, Ella, and Gwyn were all in life threatening situations who would you save and why? Also it is impossible for all of them to be saved not even Arceus would be able to help you."**_

Flint's eyes widened, then his head slowly turned and faced the shocked gazes of his girlfriend and the Espeon, while Wes laughed awkwardly under his breath. "You… _must_ be joking…"

Tony shrugged. "Call it as I see it."

Flint groaned into his paws. "Why am I the one stuck with this question?"

"I can think of a couple of reason…" I mumbled under my breath.

Flint sighed, then extended his paw out. "Okay…let me just get this off the bat. Ella, you're my friend, but…well…"

Ella rolled her eyes, then smirked. "I get it. Love of cute Mews and family before friends."

He sighed, then scratched his head. "I…honestly don't know who I'd save. Wes is my one and only brother, but…Gwyn is the best thing to ever some into my life…" He pressed his paws into his eyes. "Ugh…WHY DIDN'T GRIFFIN GET THIS QUESTION OR SOMETHING?!"

"Um…given Griffin's moral alignment, he'd probably wouldn't be too beat up about it," I said.

Griffin shrugged. "Meh."

"Hey!" his team yelled.

"I did try to kill all of you. Won't be too new for me."

Flint huffed, then rubbed between his head. "Ugh, I…I…" He felt a hand touch his paw. He pulled his paw from his face and met Gwyn's soft gaze. "Gwyn?"

She smiled sweetly. "I really like you, Flint…I'd have a tough time choosing between any of you…but I wouldn't mind if you picked Wes over me."

"G-Gwyn?!"

She nodded. "Like you said, he's your one and only brother. I know you would put your life on the line to save him. He means that much to you."

Flint's ears flopped over, then he bowed his head in shame. "I'm…I'm sorry, Gwyn…"

She patted his shoulder, then hugged him. "It's okay, Fluffy…"

He sighed, then rubbed his eye. "Y-Yeah…I'd choose Wes…"

Wes smiled. "Thanks, bro…but if it's any consolation-"

"Do NOT say you'd rather have Gwyn chosen over you or I'm going to be here all-day melting into a scattered mess!"

Wes held his paws up and laughed. "Annnd, shutting up!"

I sighed in relief and wiped my brow. "Phew…that went better than with Jango. Um…Tony, if you would?"

"Gladly." Tony cleared his throat and continued on:

" _ **2\. Griffin the Weapon Master if you had the opportunity to hang out with ONE of the previous wielders of one of the weapons you recieved for 24hours who would it be, why did you choose them specifically and what would you do with them for the time given?"**_

"Hmm…a fine question," Griffin said. "Hmm…I would have to go with meeting Cekvar the Unbreakable, the wielder of Cekvar's Might. According the histories about him, he was a fine swordsman who wielded his massive sword with the grace and elegance of a fencer. I find that hard to believe, personally, but he is renowned for his skill. I would probably want to learn how one could wield a sword that eclipses all who wield it. It seems like it takes a great deal of skill."

I nodded. "Makes sense. Alright, continue."

" _ **3\. Wes just for the record you are amazing and the best Eeveelution (cough cough totally not bias because Umbreon is in my username cough cough) I have been wondering for a long time... but are you in love with Ella? I mean you two dated each other in the past but broke up or something because some dangerous thing happened in the past... So it got me thinking if you and her had some feelings for each other still. Also Espeon is second best Eeveelution. Totally not bias!"**_

Wes and Ella blushed, then darted their eyes at me. "Uh…"

I shrugged. "Everything that takes place in this room is completely non-canon. Say whatever you feel."

Wes sighed, then rubbed his eyes. "Alright…first off, great choice in favorites! Umbreon are the best! Second…" He sighed and slumped back into the couch. "Look, I've already went over this with the guys, but…I am still in love with Ella. I felt guilty for ignoring her feelings, getting her hurt back in the temple, and never putting in the time to be something for her. I want to make up for how badly I treated her feelings…"

Ella frowned. "Wes…" She shook her head. "I'm still trying to get my own feelings figured out. Something…might still be there, but I need some convincing if you want to prove to me that you deserve a second chance." She looked down. "Still…I did feel pressured into doing it, so…you might have a shot after all."

Wes smiled hopefully. "You mean it?"

Ella winked. "We'll…see when we get around to that."

I smiled and shook my head. "Oh, you two are going to be interesting to get to when that time comes. Or rather, _if_ that time comes." I waved my hand around. "So, how are we doing on letters."

Dakota shuffled through them and pulled one out. "Looks like we're getting to the end here."

"Well, who's next?"

She opened the envelope. "Apparently we've got… **Guest**."

"Ooh? What'd they say?"

" _Hello Brad,"_

"Hello to you, too!" I blinked. "…That's it?"

"That's it."

"Huh…"

Quinn reached in and pulled another letter out. "Eh, don't be bummed out yet. Seems we've got an interesting one right here from… **The FieryCharmeleon**."

"Aha! Another Charmeleon fan, is he? Read the letter, Quinn!"

"Very well…"

" _Yay, a Charmeleon lover :D. Merry Christmas everyone!"_

"Hah! Glad to have another fan of the Charmeleon around these parts! We hope you have a Merry Christmas as well, good Fiery!"

Quinn smirked. "Too bad Jango and Diego aren't here. They'd get a kick out of this."

Ryder shrugged. "Guess we get to have the fun."

Tamara reached into the box and pulled another letter. "Okay, here's one from a guy named… **1NF1N1TE**."

"Like the song?" Gwyn blurted.

"I'm…honestly surprise you know that one," I admitted. "Well, nice to meet you, 1NF1N1TE. Glad to have you with us. Tamara, what's the question?"

"It's addressed to Ryder, actually. And…I guess, to a degree, Jango."

Ryder raised his brow. "This ought to be good." Tamara cleared her throat and read:

' _ **I know Jango isn't here, but now that you have shown your Final Focus, do you think you could possibly beat him in a fight at your max potentials?'**_

"Huh…that's right," I realized. "The Forest of No Light ended a little under two years ago. Ryder now has access to Final Focus at this point." I turned to Ryder. "Your move."

Ryder sighed. "Well, my original response to this question was that Jango would kick my ass, no questions asked. However, with Final Focus, I'd imagine I could hold my own against him. To put that in perspective, I think _Dark_ could fight on par with Jango in his base form. Both are incredibly powerful, after all."

"So, are you saying you could win?" I asked.

" _Could_. Definitely _could_. However, I wouldn't place money on it. Jango and I may have had good training, but I'm barely in control of my abilities. My only advantage is that Jango probably doesn't have the full grasp on his powers."

" _Believe me, you're not wrong_ …" I mumbled under my breath.

"I'd have to still give it to Jango simply because of his practice with the power."

I nodded. "I'm sure Jango would've given you a bit more credit. Still, it would be nice to play around with that idea." I blinked, then rubbed my chin. "Should I do my own 'Death Battle' series…just without the actual _death_ part? Hmm, I wonder-"

"Alright, alright, enough talk!" Artemis exclaimed. "We've got one letter left!"

"Open it, open it!" Harper cheered.

"Alright, good point. Here we go." I reached down and pulled it out, then smiled. "Well…last, but certainly not least, we've got… **Mr. Maverick77**!"

"Holy shit, he's alive?!" Tony exclaimed, slapping his knee and breaking out into laughter.

I shot a deadpan smile at the Dewott. "Yes…very much so." I formed a normal smile. "For those of you interested, Maverick is also a writer on the site, with an infrequent upload schedule. Still, I find the wait to be worth it. I recommend checking out his two stories, especially 'This Fairy-tale Called Life.' It's pretty good."

"So, who's reading?" Gwyn asked.

"Why don't you read it, Gwyn?" I offered.

Gwyn smiled. "Really? Aww, thanks, Brad!" She took the letter and unfurled it. "Ooh, this is so exciting! I get to read it!"

Flint smiled. "Give it your best, Gwyn."

"I will!" She cleared her throat and read:

" _The third Holiday Special is up on us! If you do this every year and I update regularly, we may just bring about the End Times my friend XD Quite glad to see you doing something simpler and more relaxed. After seeing the last few chapters and how often you update, sometimes I worry for your sanity (Im with Ren on this one) XD"_

I laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I felt doing this would be a good way to relax before I get to the major stuff. The next few chapters for both stories are pretty tame, thankfully."

"Now, if only Maverick uploaded more often," Tony joked.

"Tony!" I scolded.

"What? It's true."

"Unlike me, he has a far busier schedule! I doubt he has the time to sit around for an hour and write!"

Tony grinned. "Oh, we both know he would want that!"

I sighed and rubbed between my eyes. "Right…well…" I laughed to myself. "Yes Maverick, we might very well bring about the end times if we did these things regularly. Though, I'll be bringing out my own end times one I get to the meat of Tribe of Fusions. When you basically hype up a WAR in your story, you're pretty much setting yourself up to be writing a ton of fight-central chapters. Those are the most time consuming for me, so…yeah."

Ren grinned. "Oh, you'll be fine!"

"My arms won't…" I shook my head. "Okay Gwyn, get to the questions. Oh, but save the first one for last. I want that to be one of the things we end off on."

Gwyn nodded. "Roger!" She held up the letter:

" _ **2) As we all know, you have quite the array of characters you write regularly. Taking into account all your characters over the years from Ryder to Wes, what do you find the most difficult about writing so many personalities believably? Has it always been the same thing, or has your improvement in skill altered it?"**_

"Well, personally, it always came down to 'variety' and 'quality' in the characters. See, when I first started out with Ryder, he…well, got that Gary Stu vibe from a select few people. This is why I had to retcon a few early aspects of him. 'For the Love of Pikachu' had to go through some rewrites as well. So many little things that could've drastically altered the story.

"What I usually work on painstakingly is character motivation. Let me put it like this, Ryder's personality was shaped from a case that could very well be PTSD. Ryder comes off as a reserved guy, but he's motivated by fear and paranoia. He legitimately fears the possibilities of failure and succumbing to corruption.

"When I come up with characters, I first have to make them distinct enough from other versions of the type to give them their own charm. I wouldn't want two Ryders in different stories. What's difficult is proving the right evidence for how these characters became who they are. Either I sell it believably, or I'm taking obvious shortcuts to get through writer's block.

"I've definitely improved from when I first started out. I could go back and rewrite the way I've handled character introductions and such differently. This is actually something else about Bandits of the Forest I'm trying: writing different types of personalities for different characters. I want to try and expand my reach a little bit."

"Dare I ask what kind of characters we should be expecting in that?" Ella asked.

"That's my little secret for now." I waved my hand. "Gwyn?"

"Right!"

" _ **3) For Harper (The most adorable fusionDo you or Brad have any idea/inclination as to what eveelution path you'll follow, if you evolve at all?"**_

Dakota held up Harper. "You hear that, Harper? He thinks you're adorable."

Harper held her cheeks and wagged her tail. "Aww! Thank you, Mr. Maverick! You're super cool! I wish I could snuggle you!"

"Isn't she precious?" I laughed. "Well, Harper?"

"Hmm…" Harper closed her eyes and pondered the question seriously. "Ooh, uh…hmm…oh! Well, I want to be like Artemis and be a Sylveon! They're so pretty and sparkly! I want to be pretty and sparkly!"

"You make my heart swell, kid," Artemis gushed.

I chuckled. "Yes…the reason Harper was designed as an Eevee-Ditto plays off the fact that Eevee have unstable mutations and Ditto…well, is Ditto. Put the two together and you get this adorable girl!" Harper giggled. "Same premise when I designed the others. Tamara? A stealthy cat. Juniper? Drunken fighter. Ren? Play on the frog prince as the frog knight. Stuff like that."

"Thank you again, Mr. Maverick!" Harper exclaimed. "I will give you a snuggle in spirit!" She ran over to the…well, I suppose the fourth wall, and pressed her face up to it. "Accept my snuggles!"

I laughed behind my hand. "Oh Harper…"

Flint traced his digit over the skipped question. "So, this is what you were saving for last?"

I nodded. "I was going to talk about it, anyway, so I'm glad someone suggested it. Shows that someone would like to know."

" _ **1) As you've said, your stories as they are now are much different that what you initially imagined them. Especially in regards to TSOTI, what changed? Were some of the key plot ideas, like the keys, different? Or were characters as we know them different or even non existent?"**_

"And now it's time for a new segment on our special, called 'Oh, How the Times Have Changed!'" I pressed a button and cued the stock applause.

"You seriously added that as a feature?" Laura questioned, trying to find the source of the applause.

"Ignoring. Let's go down the list, shall we?"

 **1) Conception**

"For those of you who have been with me for a while, you may remember that TSOTI went by a slightly different name. It was actually 'Umbreon and the Secret of the Idol.' You're probably wondering why I originally called it that? Well, the first chapter might give hints as to why. Treasure hunter, tombs with traps, a boulder chasing you down…yeah, this was originally an Indiana Jones parody with Pokémon.

"You see, in the original conception, magic was a rare, _rare_ thing that you just don't come by. In fact, no characters were supposed to have magic of their own. That's why early on I had characters using standard attacks. The only source of magic was in the occasional amulet or two. Other than that, Wes was supposed to take on the trickster archetype. He had things like rope, throwing cards, flash bombs, bolas, etc. His main method of fighting was through using wit and tactics. Though, back then, I didn't know how to effectively write like that. Though, next chapter, I'll be explaining how I will be using wit and tactics over power in Bandits of the Forest.

"I got more into the idea of incorporating magic more into the story and wanting to practice with it, as I do enjoy fantasy-based settings like this."

 **2) Story**

"The first five chapters are…relatively the same, though with clear differences. Obviously, the fight with Captain Arid involved less magic, if none at all. However, a major difference was the shadows. The Tribe of Shadows wasn't meant to be literally made up of evil shadows, but rather treasure bandits that were supposed to do battle with Wes and the gang."

"What about the idol?" Flint asked.

"Same thing, but…less 'reality-warping' potential. It's like the equivalent of giving a caveman a gun and the ammunition. It becomes godlike to those who can't comprehend its power, but it's relatively mundane compared to what we'd expect. This more or less follows a similar plot to Raiders of the Lost Ark…with some influence from the Lego game's final battle.

"Wes and Flint were to find the idol in Garret's private study in the school and go on a quest to find the idol, with Ella as a tagalong. However, it wasn't for keys. They were after three orbs that allows them to each travel to a different plane of reality where the idol presided. There were three major locations they would go to, making the story much shorter than now. These locations were influenced off the Percy Jackson plot to 'The Lightning Thief,' such as the casino…without the desire to STAY in the casino.

"This all builds up to the final confrontation with the bandit leader who has been tracking them down throughout the journey."

Artemis rested her paw in her cheek. "Well, that's certainly a neat change, but…what about the characters?"

"Heh…that'll be fun."

 **3) Characters**

 **Wes**

"Like I said, Wes wasn't too different, aside from not having any magic and having more of a trickster motif. His Amulet of Umbra was meant to be his signature amulet, as it was the first one I came up with for him. Not much change on him."

 **Flint**

"Aside from no magic…Flint has remained the least changed of the three Eeveelutions. He wanted to be an archeologist, stopped treasure hunting to pursue his studies, and is more hesitant about getting into fights. I needed this type of brother figure for Wes to balance him out, so that may be why I never changed him."

 **Ella**

"While she hasn't undergone much change, there is some things about her I haven't fully incorporated. You may remember that Ella majors in Ancient Text, right? Well, this is a nod to her role on the team as the cryptographer, deciphering old languages and helping out with puzzles and riddles, another role of Wes'. This is why her last name is 'Cipher,' a playful way of showing off her role in the team."

Ella smirked. "Eh, not as cool as 'Ravenfield,' but I do like my last name."

 **Gwyn, Tony, Griffin**

"Yeah, I'm including these three at once, because…they never existed."

"WHAT!?" Gwyn shrieked.

"Originally, it was just going to be the Eeveelutions on a journey. I had no reason to expand their party more."

"So, what changed?" Tony asked.

"Well, Gwyn came about when I was searching around the internet. A DeviantArt user by the name of Beccadoodles, who has since gone by a new name as of late, had a Mew character named…well, Becca. A shiny Mew with long blue hair. I eventually got the idea of Gwyn off that, but wanted to change her up a bit. The nature motif for Gwyn just came with the color I picked out. I could've easily made her an Ice Mage had I made her fur white…or a Fire Mage had I turned her red."

Tony smirked at Flint. "Ooh, you hear that, Flint? You would've had a girlfriend that was literally _and_ figuratively hot!"

Flint blushed brightly. "Tony!" Gwyn giggled, then nuzzled up to the Flareon.

"So, what about Sparks and me?" Griffin asked.

"…" I shrugged. "I just…really wanted a Dewott and Grovyle, I guess. Though, while there isn't a specific reason for Tony, I did model Griffin off of Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail. I think anyone could've gotten the hint where the inspiration came from. And the Emotion Anima was influenced off of the five basic emotions of the mind, as seen from Inside Out."

 **Morgan**

"I never imagined making a major side character a Hypno, but I have to, again, thank Beccadoodles for the influence, though nothing direct. Actually, while my influence to use a Hypno came from her, Morgan's character is a different story. Tell me, has anyone ever heard of Hellsing?"

"The vampire hunter?"

"An underworld karaoke night?" Everyone looked at Gwyn, who blushed sheepishly. "That's…not what it means, does it?"

I chuckled. "To…make a long story short, Morgan is based off Walter C. Dornez, ex-vampire hunter and butler to the Hellsing Organization. You will find much of the inspiration in his method of fighting, via string combat. I have NEVER been so terrified of STRING in my life!" I scratched behind my head. "Actually, now that I think about it, there are quite a lot of anime characters that use string to fight. Weird…"

"What about his role as a Herald of Darkness?" Laura asked.

"That was more of an 'on the spot' moment when he was first introduced."

 **The Original Team Ravenfield in General**

"Ava, Clara, Alex, Willow…while Garret was meant to have his own backstory with a team, they had little impact on the story. Obviously, Clara didn't exist without Gwyn, so…also, for some reason, when I looked through my old notes, I apparently named Garret 'Max.' I have no idea why I changed the name. Maybe I just forget what I named him and went with 'Garret.'"

 **Fernando**

"Believe it or not, this character was in the original concept, though as a minor antagonist turned ally. Fernando was meant to be a skilled hitman sent to eliminate Wes and the others. It was a battle of skill, wit, and just eluding the other without dying."

"So, Fernando has always been a regular character?" Ryder asked.

"As were Hal, Vivian, even Captain Arid, though with a less significant role to the story aside from being a rival to Wes. Team Shatter Star was an idea to be a light mirror of Team Ravenfield, compared to the dark mirror we have with the Tribe of Shadows. I'm not sure if I ever added this little tidbit as an Easter Egg, but I originally had it in the current version that Fernando was sent to kill Wes, but the contract was revoked when Wes went after the guy trying to kill him. Instead, I said Fernando had Wes, Flint, and Ella tailing him on his mission."

"Good times!" Wes exclaimed.

"We remember that day _very_ differently…" Flint grumbled. Ella snickered.

 **Jonathan Geno**

"Possibly…the most radically changed of the original cast. Here's the thing, all my original characters, while skewed in some way, were still aligned with their original morals. Geno…is different. First off, he wasn't a chronic amnesiac who had a split personality and hosted a dark spirit."

"Watch, he's going to pause for dramatic effect and reveal some big twist," Artemis said aloud, which kind of annoyed me, especially once the girls started snickering at me.

I pouted. "…However…I suppose in concept…Jonathan Geno's main role of the story was an advisor to Wes and the gang, to help them get to the idol. Except, there was a bit of a problem with that. That original concept for the Tribe of Shadows? The treasure bandits? Guess…who their leader was."

Flint's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean…?"

"Jonathan Geno was meant to be the true villain of TSOTI."

Team Ravenfield gasped. The others…not so much. Artemis tilted her head. "Isn't he…already the villain?"

"Okay, let me explain. Unlike Geno of _now,_ who is nothing more than an unwilling pawn in the Shadow King's plans, Jonathan Geno of before was a manipulative treasure hunter who was looking to get a big score on the rarest treasures in the world. However, Garret Ravenfield was a rival in that field and often beat Geno to it. Geno was the one responsible for Garret's death, and he wanted to know the secret to the Idol of Origin. Again, here, Garret did know about the idol. It…just wasn't being kept a major secret by a society of mages."

"So…Geno was meant to be the bad guy?" Wes asked.

"Here's the crazy part about all that. This was who he was supposed to be two months before I actually uploaded. I'm not sure exactly what made me change it to evil shadows and a Shadow King, but…originally, Geno was meant to be a…pretty horrible guy. He does some things that…well, the point is, this is where Wes' grief currently in the story comes from. It's supposed to be reflective of what Wes was meant to go through back then."

"Wow…it's amazing how much can change in two months," Wes mumbled. "Wait, that means…"

"Those two months before I uploaded is when I reworked Secret of the Idol. Sure, maybe it would've been different, perhaps better, than it is now, but…" I smiled. "But…then I wouldn't have some of the amazing characters I got out of it. Gwyn, Tony, Griffin…all you guys. You all are fan favorites in your own rights, so…I think I made the right decision making the change." I tapped my chin. "Although, I recall Gwyn having a slightly different description to her personality when she was first conceptualized."

"Like what?" Flint asked, raising his brow at me.

"Um…" I laughed awkwardly and tapped my fingers together. "Heh…a slightly deranged potion maker…"

Flint gave me an unimpressed look, but Gwyn seemed to be nodding in agreement. "Makes sense to me!"

"And the original depiction of Griffin, while mostly the same, had him carrying all his weapons on his back. While the image is amusing, I figured someone of Griffin's profession would find that…cumbersome."

Griffin shrugged. "It's true."

"What about me?" Tony asked.

"Eh…more of an assssss-" I stopped and glanced at the curious-eyed Harper for a moment. "…uh… _jerk_ than you are now. And perhaps not as clever."

Tony deadpanned. "Yeah, I think you made the right call with that one."

I sighed. "It's amazing how this went from an Indiana Jones parody into its own thing. I'm actually happy it turned out the way it did. A lot of my ideas go through a basic conception, then get finalized as I go along. That's why I'm writing things out these days…and perhaps making a timeline. At this point, I think a year has past since the team set off. Could be wrong. I really need to make a timeline to keep track of all this stuff."

Laura sat back. "Well, it looks like that was the last of our questions."

"I believe it is, Laura." I smiled at the audience. "As is tradition, we've got one more session after this. More questions are welcomed, of course. Next, we'll be talking about the basics of 'Bandits of the Forest' and perhaps a little look into some of my personal works."

"So, does that mean we're finally bringing in that special guest?" Ulysses asked.

"You bet we are. This character is definitely going to be different from the rest of my protagonists. We have Ryder, Jango, Diego and Chase, and Wes as my main protagonists. Now we got someone special to share with all of you! Presenting my first _female_ protagonist for 'Bandits of the Forest,' I give you…!

"Princess Melissa Penworth!"

Confetti fired out of nowhere as our new guest entered the stage. An eighteen-year-old Buneary wearing a green dress that covered her feet. The dress had a nature aesthetic in the design.

The princess smiled shyly to the group and curtsied. "It is an honor to be granted the highest privilege of meeting all of you. I do hope to bring about nothing but worthy responses or, dare I attempt, masterly crafted rejoinders for our fans' questions."

Laura blinked down at her from the screen. "…She has a weird accent."

Melissa looked up, then her eyes widened. "Wait! What is this horrific witchcraft?! Who trapped this defenseless Pikachu in a box?!" She gasped and pointed at the cameras. "And what are those foreign devices pointed at us?! Are there witches among us?!"

"Lady, I'm not trapped in a-!" Laura deadpanned when Melissa fainted, then faced me with the same face. "…Okay, you invited a technophobe to an internet talk show?!"

"Eheh…right, her home universe is…lacking in modern tech…probably should've warned her before I brought her on."

Wes whispered to the others through his teeth, "So…no one tell her there's five of us who can use magic…"


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, I should've realized this would happen," I mumbled to myself as Ryder fanned at the unconscious Buneary.

"You think you could wake her up faster? We got a show to do," Laura pressed.

Ryder glared. "You aren't exactly the best authority on rushing me, especially since you're the reason she freaked out."

"How is this MY fault?!"

"You keep ditching on joining us in person, for starters."

"That has nothing to do with-!"

"Okay, can you two put the arguing away for one minute?! This is a magical time of the year and your bickering isn't doing anyone any favors!" Dakota shouted angrily. She froze as we stared at her in shock, then she covered her face. "Um…please?"

Fortunately, Dakota's shout was enough to stir Melissa awake. She reached for her forehead and groaned. "Ugh…Nurse Hilda…are you present? I seemed to have slipped out of bed…" She looked up and saw Ryder's face instead, then instantly recollected what happened. "Oh…right…"

"Easy there, Princess," Ryder soothed as she helped her to her feet. "Anything broken?"

She dusted her skirt off. "N-No…I say everything is unscathed, aside from this pain emanating from my head." She rubbed her head and groaned. "May someone lead me to the couch?" Ryder took her arm around him and helped her onto the couch. "My apologies for the startling display…this world is…vast compared to what I have known…"

Artemis waved it off. "Oh, it's alright! I don't think you'd want to know about the internet!"

"What is…an internet? Is that a type of netting?"

"Eh…not what you're thinking." She then whispered to Quinn, "How do you introduce someone on an internet talk show to the internet?" He shrugged.

I sighed in relief, just glad to see Melissa was alright, and sat down. "Well, anyway, thank you for coming on our show, Melissa. I'm sure you're not used to being out of sight of the royal staff, what with your luxurious lifestyle."

Melissa smiled. "Oh yes, this is all quite different to what I am used to. However, I wish to remain ebullient throughout this new experience, as it is, how do you say, not a cannon?"

" _Non-canon,_ " I corrected, "but yes, you should have nothing to worry about while you're here. We are all a peaceful company…with maybe the exception of some."

Artemis blinked. "…You ever get the feeling someone's referring to you, specifically?"

"Ah, you get that feeling, too?" Laura asked.

" _Anyway_ ," I continued, "we'll be going through our last batch of questions, then we'll talk a little about Bandits of the Forest and its future as a new story on the page. We'll also talk about upload schedule and stuff like that. Anyway, onto the questions." I pulled out my remote and pressed a button.

Melissa shrieked as the box of letters fell out of the ceiling. "Your mail falls from the sky?!"

"I…really need to watch what I do around her…" I reached down and pulled out a letter. "Melissa, since you're new here, perhaps you would like to read one of the questions to the audience?"

"Oh? Me?" She smiled and bowed her head. "I would be delighted. Thank you, Bradley." She took the letter and opened it. "Hmm…it appears this was addressed by a fellow named **austin todd 315**. Um…does the future now force numbers to be assigned to every name?"

"That's a username, Melissa," I explained. "It's a pseudonym for the internet."

"I still do not know what this 'inner netting' is, but I do know what a pseudonym is." She cleared her throat and read aloud:

" _Reading about all of the radical changes that TSOTI went through really was certainly something. To be honest reading the summary of TSOTI on your profile page way back when really did give me Indiana Jones Vibes. When I finally got around to reading the story, I was very surprised to find that it was... Almost completely different. But reading the story has been very exciting."_

"Even I surprised myself with the amount of changes it underwent. Still, I've gotten more into fantasy elements and TSOTI is the starting grounds for that. I feel TSOTI is a good baseline to find my comfort zone for writing in this type of setting. Plus, like I said, I like to go all out with the adventuring and the premise for this allowed me to expand on things."

" _You've mentioned before that fight based chapters are usually more difficult for you, I think. That honestly brings me all the way back to chapter 17 of FTLOP. I think that that was probably the first, super major, epic and long showdown that I read from any of your stories. It's pretty much become the standard for your stories and fight scenes now, it seems, but back then it was quite the huge leap. The previous fight scenes, while certainly very good, were not nearly as long or huge in scale iirc. Now the stories have gone from more short, but still entertaining fight scenes, to epic showdowns spanning over an entire chapter or more. And the chapter length seems to have increased dramatically as well."_

"I have definitely grown more comfortable with writing fight scenes. Though, I sometimes feel like I can go overboard with the length. If I'm doing the math right, almost fifteen percent of TFONL was that monstrous chapter near the end. That's pretty big when you stop and think about it. But yeah, ever since the first major one in FTLOP, I have gotten better at doing them.

"Even so, they are a slog to write sometimes. I want to write the fight scenes with extreme care, which is harder than doing dialogue because I have to perfectly arrange the movement of the characters and actions through the narrative. This is why I think BOTF will be a nice change, because the fights will be more strategy based than power fests. Not to say I have a problem with tests of power, but I want to try my hand at fights focusing on skill and tactics."

" _I'm definetly very interested in Bandits Of The Forest. And if it's not going to be as focused on huge, intense action scenes heavy on the elements that the other stories feature in their fights, then it will certainly stand out quite a bit. And for the record, I would be perfectly fine with monthly update for Bandits Of The Forest if you were willing to do it. Maybe it could act like a sort of prologue, so that once TOF is finished some parts of the story will already be laid out and ready to go. Either way I'm very excited. :)"_

"I feel this would be the best option to doing it. I almost have the fourth chapter finished. I do hope to have TOF wrapped up by the time I get to the tenth chapter, because after that will be some…well, I'll save that for when it rolls around. I may even have to postpone TSOTI for a short while just to get some TOF chapters out faster. I would still work on TSOTI off to the side, but I DO want to get working on BOTF regularly soon."

"Mr. Bradley, this next one appears to be a question addressed to me," Melissa pointed out.

"Well, read it."

"Very well."

" _ **Nice to meet the newest member! Melissa if you get better by the time the remaining chapter rolls around, is there anything you can say about your Kingdom and home?"**_

Melissa blushed in embarrassment. "Not my best first impression…" She breathed out, then composed herself. "Well, Mr. Austin, my home is quite quaint. The staff at the castle are quite lovely, especially my friend, Sadie. I live comfortably in my home and often get the attention of potential suitors. I am of age for marriage, though none of my suitors have yet to show any…desirable traits as of yet."

"Like what?" Ella asked.

"Well, they are either not very attractive or well-read…and perhaps a bit too garish to tolerate. There are the occasional stalkers, but I have nothing to fear thanks to the diligent protection under my knights."

"You seem fairly secured in that fact," Tamara pointed out.

"As long as I have my knights, I have nothing to be afraid of."

I smirked. "Oh yeah, you're going to have an interesting time once the plot gets rolling."

"Eh?"

"Nothing, nothing~!" I pulled out another letter. "Thank you, Austin, for always being a dedicated reader! Alright, who do we have next? Ah, we have **Void Reader** again."

"What's he got for us now?" Laura asked.

"Well, how about you read for yourself, Laura?" I pulled out a tablet and snapped a picture of the letter. "I'll send it to you."

Seconds after, Laura's eyes lit up, confusing and frightening Melissa. "Hmm…alright, here we go."

" _Interesting first impression of the new protagonist. Her world must in the mid-evil kingdom period. N I have been stuck on writer's block on my next chapter! Well, if u have to rewrite LITC, that's fine with me. I hope not much changes with the OCs in it like Diego, Chase, Diana n Rebecca. Just some help for my second question, how do u elaborate more of your story lines from key points to full paragraphs? I need help. N time."_

Melissa covered her face and whined. I laughed and turned back to the cameras. "Melissa is a master at first impressions…not sure what that says about her. And while I don't want to give away too much, things aren't necessarily evil in her home world. Though, who knows? We still haven't looked into the main plot yet.

"As for LITC, there may be a point in the future where I redo the first set of chapters. I normally hate rewriting chapters, but that's only when I have to rewrite them from scratch…like say when my computer crashes on me…again." I sighed. "However, I don't mind this time because I would intend on retouching the story and some rather…confusing elements. Fan submitted characters will remain the same as before.

"As for characters in general, they will retain their same personalities, maybe with some different character motivation to work off of.

"Now, as for your question, I suppose it boils down to practice. Thing is, there isn't a trick to it, I just _do_ …it. When I do summaries for these chapters, I write down what happens, but nothing specific. Just key plot details that happen within the chapter. I would recommend playing out how you want the chapter to go, maybe even recite the intended dialogue out loud to get a feel for what you want out of it. It is a matter of practice and not something I can just explain."

Quinn reached into the box and pulled out another letter. "Alright, I got one. This one is from… **Plague Dog UnleasheD**."

"Is there a question?"

"No, just a response to your last response with him." Quinn read the letter aloud:

" _Oh, I was just excited because I was waiting for three years for one of these. I was hoping you would make one sooner."_

"Believe me, Plague, I wanted to make one sooner, too. I was still getting into the swing of college, and I barely had time to write my stories in general. I didn't think I'd be able to get another one out." I shrugged. "But, who knows, maybe I can get another one out next year. That'll be an interesting year to talk about things."

Ella psychically lifted a new letter from the box and opened it. "I have one from that **Umbreonic65** guy again."

Flint's ears flopped. "Oh no, what did he say now?!"

"Actually…nothing bad. Here, it says…"

" _I get the feeling that Jango isn't here cause I scarred him the last time. Also I directed that question towards Flint because 1. It's obvious he's the guardian of the group. 2. Out of the group two of his loved ones are in the group. 3. I knew he would have the hardest time picking."_

Flint frowned. "…I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Tony smirked. "Eh, we both know you've got thicker skin than that. Count yourself lucky you got a cute girl like Gwyn around your arm."

Flint glared. "Again with the teasing?"

"On the contrary, I'm slightly jealous. Buuut, I don't mind. You two are happy."

I laughed. "As for Jango…yeeeeah, that may be _one_ of the reasons he didn't want to come on again. I don't think he ever wants to think about hurting Amanda after what happened back in Poketopia."

Ella raised her paw. "Ah, hang on guys, there's more."

" _PS Really gotta catch up I finished the chapter where Fernado got captured by the witches. So Flint and Gwyn being together caught me off guard but made the question all the more better... for me that is."_

Flint pouted. "Good for you…"

Gwyn giggled. "Aww, Flinty, don't be a sourpuss." She twirled her finger and shot a little bit of Accelerated Growth into the ceiling. "I know what'll cheer you up."

"What?" His eyes followed her finger to the ceiling, then he blushed at the mistletoe hanging above their heads.

Gwyn grinned. "Merry Christmas, Flinty!"

Flint blinked, then smiled back at her. "Heh…Merry Christmas, Gwyn." He cupped her cheeks and, with a boldness he won't be demonstrating for a while (because this is non-canon), kissed her, which she happily melted into. Their tails wrapped around each other.

"Aww!" Juniper, Ella, Dakota, and Artemis gushed.

I chuckled behind my hand. "I say you have a lot of catching up to do, Umbreonic. I've been teasing this ship for a while now."

Tamara reached into the box and pulled out another letter. "Alright, we got one from…ah, it's **1F1N1TE**."

"Ah, sweet. What did they have to say?"

"Ahem…"

" _I absolutely loved this chapter and the response I got from my question, I never knew about the song and that you knew of death battle. Speaking of which, I recommend that you do a series with your own spin on it. You have so many powerful OCs that it's kind of a no-brainer, really. I'd love to see something like that."_

"Yeah, there is a song called 'Infinite.' It's from that Sonic Forces game that came out a while back." I blinked. "Actually, something brought up to me by austin todd 315 some time ago, that song surprisingly matches up with a lot of Dark's characteristics. It's…kind of uncanny how well of a theme it works for him."

I tapped my chin. "Admittedly, I played around with the idea of a 'Death Battle' series for my characters, though…I personally wouldn't want to actually _kill_ my characters. So…maybe something like 'Ultimate Arena' or something. Actually, I've been playing around with a lot of different ideas for parody spin-offs for my stories."

"Like what?" Juniper asked.

"I had this one funny idea where Data, from Tribe of Fusions, becomes a reviewer for fanfictions online, since his main quirk is that he keeps complaining about movies and such. Granted, the original idea was to have him review movies, but I would actually have to _get_ those to do anything." I shrugged. "I've actually seen someone review fanfics in a humorous manner. Check out **Matthais Unidostres** to see what I mean.

"Eh, maybe I'll try something with both if I ever feel like. But anyway, I believe there's more to the response, yes?"

Tamara nodded. "Yeah, there is."

" _Also a quick message for Melissa. It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness. Not only are you one of my favorite gen 4 pokemon, but I bet you look lovely in that green dress. I hope your story is one of the best to come. Best wishes!"_

Melissa smiled, then curtsied to the camera. "Oh, your words reach me with soft pleasantries, my good fellow. I do look forward to when I make my official debut this January. I can only imagine what excitement awaits me in my home." I snorted out loud. "…Did I make a jest?"

"Hehe…nothing, nothing~!" I leaned over to Ryder and whispered, "She hasn't read the story summary yet…"

"Ah…"

Harper dug her face into the box and pulled out a new letter. "Brad…can I read this one?" she asked with adorably shimmering eyes.

…Yeah, my heart melted on the spot.

"Aww! Of course you can! Here, have a candy cane!" I tossed it over to her.

"Yay!" She caught it, then hopped back onto the couch. She opened the letter and read it over. "Ooh, ooh! It's from **PokFanMan15**!"

Dakota smiled. "Very good, Harper. You sure you can read the whole thing by yourself?"

"Uh huh!" Harper squinted at the paper and read the best she could:

" _Season's Greetings, Brad. Now you may not recall who I may be, but I am the one responsible for the OC Zerif. And I would like to apologise; for I too took a hiatus from reading your wonderful tales. That being said, i have several questions pertaining to ToF"_

"Huh, really? Wow, that was a long time ago." I smiled. "Either way, hey PokFan. Thanks again for making Zerif. Hope to do a little more with him once we put some focus on the Desert Beasts later down. And…heh, again, sorry that a couple things got spoiled while you were reading this. Though, I suppose that makes the wait more exciting. Harper, may you read the questions?"

"Uh huh!"

" _ **1\. How do shiny colorations work exactly?"**_

"Within the context of Tribe of Fusions, you see quite a number of Fusions. Shiny Fusions, in particular, aren't something I focused on, mainly because Fusions often are a different color to what their main species pertains. However, they are still possible, especially in Enhanced Fusion. Since their bodies don't go through any drastic changes, they have a higher change of being born with Shiny aspects to their color. Though, it's not something I focus on since, like I said, Fusions often come in a variety of colors."

" _ **2\. Can the mewgenetic code be awakened artificially or twice (i.e. a reroll)?"**_

"I'll start with the latter part first. No, Fusions can't 'reroll' their DNA. It's something that's developed during the developmental stages of birth. The Mewgenetic Code is based entirely on the principle that Mew is the ancestor to all Pokémon, therefore how a Fusion is born is entirely random. Although, that's not to say it can't be scientifically altered before birth, it's just not something often brought up.

"Now, artificially, it is definitely possible, all thanks to everyone's favorite activist/derange scientist/potential reviewer, Ivan Faust, also known as Data. Faust developed the means to awaken a Pokémon's dormant Mewgenetic Code, as it does exist within all Pokémon. It's about as useless as the appendix if left alone. However, if you've kept up with some of the facts about doing this, there are some consequences.

"As brought up by Vivi, the process of forced, unnatural evolution in a Pokémon is extremely painful. There's a chance you can die from the change or just the extreme pain itself. Fusions, as discovered by Codex, _can_ be affected by this process, but with more horrific side effects. Aside from death, _if_ they can survive, a Fusions with their DNA altered to have the genetic make-up of three Pokémon would be…well, let's just say you found your next eldritch horror monster for the week. This is why Faust designed his machine to eliminate Fusions from the mutation process."

Quinn shivered. "Ugh…I do not like the idea of that."

"Aren't there fanart of Fusions made up of three Pokémon?" Griffin asked.

"Yes, but this is something pertaining to the laws of my story…plus, if I did make it three for a Fusion, I would have to try harder to come up with designs. Next!"

" _ **And finally on an unrelated topic 3. How is alchemy seen in TSotI and BotF?**_

 _ **Thank you for your time."**_

"Oh-ho! This is a good one!" I rubbed my hands together. "For those who don't know for whatever reason, alchemy is the medieval equivalent to chemistry, focusing on the transmutation of matter into other things. A famous example is the attempt to turn lead into gold. An example of this being done in media is Fullmetal Alchemist, where basically every character you meet has talent in alchemy…to more fantastical means, admittedly. The main purposes of alchemy is to obtain the Philosopher's Stone, said to be the height of spiritual perfection, and the Universal Panacea, which grants eternal life.

"Now, TSOTI doesn't really focus on alchemy too much, although, if I ever do side stuff for it, I might bring it up at some point. You could argue this is how non-magic users of TSOTI are able to use magic, though I would need to work out the rules to make sense out of it.

"BOTF, however, has a lot to do with alchemy since it's placed in a medieval era…sort of. Long story there. A bit of a spoiler warning for BOTF, not really, but there is a character who is the known alchemist of the story. His name is Shade. He'll provide the context to BOTF for alchemy. Though, the practice of alchemy has some…illegal aspects in the story, for a number of reasons. This will eventually be explained when we get around to it. This is probably the closest to magic it'll ever get…among a number of things."

Melissa blinked at me. "…You obfuscate your words quite a lot…"

"Oh, why thank you!"

"Ob-a-what now?" Harper repeated with a head tilt.

"Moving on! How many letters do we have left?"

Wes pulled out another letter. "Got one from a **Guest**."

"Great! Wes, commence with reading!"

"Aye!" Wes opened the letter and commenced with reading:

" _¡Hello to everyone! First what nothing i want to say that what, Brad, you are great weater and the the others are nice are very nice characters. Well the se are my questions"_

Everyone stared at the Umbreon, who was as wide-eyed as us. "…Okay, I swear, I read what was on the paper! I'm not illiterate!"

Dakota looked over his shoulder and read down a few lines. "Hmm…I think this was translated from Spanish."

"What makes you say that?"

"Aside from the upside-down exclamation point, this use of 'because' further down must've been translated from 'why.' Same spelling, but they have to be spaced out with an accent to make any difference. There's actually four different ways it can be used. The mistake can be as common as us misusing _you're_ and _your._ "

"Ah!"

I chuckled slightly. "Well, at least it's legible to understand. Anyway, Guest, thank you for your kind words. I do try my best whenever I upload new chapters and stories and make some fun characters for everyone to relate with or just enjoy on their goofy adventures. Wes, onto the questions!"

" _ **1- For Brad ¿Because are chose to write about Pokemon?"**_

" _Why_ did I choose to write about Pokémon? Well, aside from my love of the franchise, I have been asked why I make such outlandish stories that really have nothing to do with Pokémon…mostly by certain individuals who shall remain unnamed. If you know who I'm talking about, my apologies.

"Anyway, I use the Pokémon sort of like templates to make a story, because I do intend on writing my own original stuff eventually. I see this as me getting my start and finding what I can do. I have quite a number of ideas for stories that…huh, might be an interesting topic for the next special.

"Plus, I just really like the designs of Pokémon, so it's a quick way to make characters without going through the hassle of explaining them…unlike what I did when I first started TAATP."

" _ **2- ¿It's me or TOF is inspired by X-men (There are two species separated by distrust)"**_

"That is something that has been brought up to me before. Admittedly, when I first came around to conceptualizing this, I had to find a main theme to the story. Sure enough, I was watching some X-Men related material at the time and it sort of clicked with me. So, the idea for Pokémon and Fusions not trusting each other does come from some inspiration from X-Men."

" _ **3- For Brad ¿If are cold rewrite one of your stories which would be?"**_

"We did discuss this point when talking about Life in the City. Honestly, that's a hard one, because the original three would be the contenders for rewrites. The Assassin and the Princess developed with time, but I felt like the first half was a little unfocused…not to mention poorly planned out since I made changes halfway through. For the Love of Pikachu, which took me a year to write, could've done better with character introduction, motivation, and so on. And, of course, Life in the City, where I basically made a story with a lot of random elements that make little sense in the grand scheme of things.

"Personally, since TAATP and FTLOP achieved what I wanted out of them, I'd have to go with Life in the City. Again, when I first wrote it, I was pumped to write some with a much of troublemaking characters. However, I wasn't all that used to writing something in an episodic format, as I have shown to be more comfortable with a narrative setting. I would probably want to redo the introduction chapters for the characters, mainly up to when Diego and Chase meet the Montoya sisters. A lot of things said and done were thought up without really…thinking about them, I guess. Though, I'll have to wait and see if that's what I want to do with it in the future."

Ulysses gently pulled out another letter. "I-I have another one…from a **Ninetales29**."

I smiled. "Ah, Ninetales. While not someone who regularly comments on my stories, I am in occasional contact with him, usually asking for my advice on things. Great to hear from you, Ninetales. I haven't read any of his stuff, but it might be worth a quick read. Ulysses, want to read the letter?"

The cellular avian gulped, then fumbled with the paper. "Um…s-sure?" He opened it and began to read:

" _Hi cast of PM64, first time commenting. It feels... i don't know. Anyway I have a question for Brad. If you insert yourself in your stories, what would you do in them?"_

" _If_ I ever did that, it would probably be just to make some ridiculous cameo to throw people off guard. I mean, just imagine, I put myself in a story as a one-off thing, like a merchant in Bandits in the Forest or just some random salesman for the Gelid Peak Tournament in Secret of the Idol!" I laughed for a moment…then slowly stopped laughing until I was silent and blinked. "…Huh…" I quickly pulled out a pen and notepad and wrote something down.

Quinn deadpanned. "I am…not sure how to feel about this."

Wes snickered. "Who wants to bet he'll turn himself into a Charmeleon?"

"Ha!" I laughed. "Joke's on you! I would turn myself into a Froakie! HA!"

Wes smirked and raised his paws. "My mistake."

Artemis dipped her feeler into the box and retrieved another letter. "Okay, I got another one from…ooh, it's **ApiphobicDalmatianLass** again."

"Ah, hello again, Lass! Thank you again for your last comment. Always nice to get some new people around here, you know? Artemis, would you mind reading this one?"

"Only if you pay me first." I glared at her. "Hey, I'm joking, chill!" She cleared her throat, then straightened the paper:

" _I apologize immensely for my late review! A lot of things have been going on these last few weeks, but now I'm here, ready to ask away."_

"Oh, it's fine, don't worry. At least you didn't submit your review an hour before the deadline. That would've…annoyed me more. I mean, it wouldn't have taken too long, but still. But all's good!"

" _This letter is solely dedicated to Princess Melissa Penworth"_

"Ah, you hear that, Melissa? A letter dedicated to you!"

Melissa smiled. "Ooh, how exciting! I look forward to what you have to say, Miss Lass."

" _Greetings, your highness. It is my biggest pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I have been waiting a very long time to meet you. It would be the biggest honor to me if you could answer the questions I have been meaning to ask you"_

Melissa giggled. "Oh, the pleasure is all mine, darling. I am glad to finally introduce myself…even if this world's concepts still boggle my mind." She looked up. "By the gods, flameless lights…"

"Uh, Melissa?" I called out.

"Oh, yes! Continuing, I will happily answer your questions! Please proceed with the reading, Miss Artemis!"

Artemis sighed. "She's so freakin' polite, it hurts…" She held the letter up again:

" _ **How is your life in the kingdom? Are you allowed to leave the castle? Do you have friends outside the castle? And can you tell us a bit about your parents, the king and queen, if it is not too much?"**_

Melissa folded her arms in her lap. "Well, as I mentioned earlier, life for me is quite quaint. Of course, given my status, I have everything handed to me whenever asked. Though, I do stray my hand from going too far with the more outrageous requests. I am not one to gossip, but you do hear some outlandish requests from less than respectable royals.

"Friends…hmm…uh…" Everyone narrowed their eyes as she started visibly shaking at the question, looking comically distressed. "Of…course I have friends! There is my darling maid/best friend, Sadie! She is a rather cheeky individual, but an utter sweetheart that lightens up even the drabbest of afternoons. Heaven forbid my father ever finds out the kind of mischief she gets into.

"There is…also my lovely nurse, Nurse Hilda. She is always there to tend to me in my chambers. She is like a second mother to me! And…uh, there is…Gustavo, the royal cook…who prepares the most wonderous meals for me throughout the day. And…uh…my royal tutor, Theobald…and…and…" She started visibly sweating. "Annnnd…"

Laura deadpanned at her. "So…if I'm getting this right, your only friends are…also the staff in your castle."

Melissa sucked in her lip. "Uh…n-no…I…also am acquainted with…the other royals from the faraway kingdoms…the ones we are allied with…s-such as…uh…" _I do not remember their names! Keep calm, Melissa! At least no one can hear your thoughts!_

I gave a subtle look to the camera, then turned back to her. "Melissa, there is _one_ royal you know. I believe…Prince _Darby_ solicits a reaction."

Melissa's face turned bright red. "P-Prince Darby…?!" She yelped and waved her hands defensively. "Uh, no! I-I-I have never heard of a Prince Darby! Th-Though, I am sure if I did, he sounds like a rather polite, courteous, _handsome, well-read, strong-_ AGH! IGNORE ALL OF THAT!"

Artemis smirked. "Ooooh! Princess has a _crush_ ~!"

"C-Cease your teasing!" Melissa cried out. "C-Continuing…!" She took a deep breath and tried to cool her face. "Uh…where was I? Ah, right. W-Well…I do not quite get out of the castle a lot. I have only left to attend the sales at the markets, in the company of my knights, of course. And also to attend private studies with Theobald. Other than that…I have never exited the walls of our kingdom."

"Why's that?" Juniper asked.

"Well, there is no point. Plus…the entire kingdom is surrounded in a dense forest that goes on for miles." She laughed awkwardly. "F-Father told me those woods are where the evil spirits, the Foresters, reside. I-I would dare not go into them."

"I see…" I leaned back and clasped my hands together. "And, what of your parents?"

"Well…I suppose I best come clean about this. I lost my mother ten years ago. Tragic occurrence. My father and I were in hysterics when my mother caught some unknown illness. The doctor could not figure it out, so…I have been without her for a long time."

The group collectively frowned. "Oooh…you poor thing…" Gwyn cried. She leaped from her seat and hugged the princess. "There, there…I know your pain…you must stay strong…"

Melissa smiled gratefully. "Thank you…but I have grown more comfortable talking about it in recent times." She wiped her eyes a bit. "It…is why I look up to my nurse so much. She does not replace the wonderful times I had with my dear mother, but Hilda is a great help in raising me."

I smiled. "You got a strong heart, Princess. And…what of your father?"

She frowned. "Well…I would not say things are bad between us, but…my father has been a tad distant ever since my mother died. We are not that close, only ever conversing on formal matters. Still…since I am the only heir to the throne, I must try my hardest to meet his expectations."

I nodded. "Well, I'm sure some light will shed on your relationship in the future…"

" _Lastly, I give you my best wishes for your future story and the adventures you will have! I hope to see you again soon! May the sun shine on you and your kind heart for all eternity!"_

Melissa beamed. "Thank you kindly, Miss Lass. I hope to carry my kindness from now to when I take the throne. My only goal is to become a just ruler who will bring some ease to the other kingdoms in the region of Virdis. I hope to make you all proud of my accomplishments."

I grinned. "We only ask that you try your hardest, Princess. You definitely have a good future ahead of you."

" _Well then, Merry Christmas everyone and good luck in your future adventures! Stay cool y'all, and I shall see you next time!"_

"And thank you, Lass!" I exclaimed. "Have a Merry Christmas as well, and we hope to see more of you in the futre!"

Flint looked through the box for a moment. "Annnd…that was the last letter. We're done."

"Ah, sweet!" I clasped my hands together. "Thank you all for your questions and comments! We hope to do this again next year! So, to end things off, a little bit on Bandits of the Forest and its future."

Melissa clapped excitedly. "Marvelous! I cannot wait to see what happens!"

I leaned back. "Like I said last chapter, this'll be the first time I'm focusing on a female protagonist and their struggles from beginning to end. I have a lot of plans for Melissa, especially after we introduce her in the first chapter. Let's just say I plan to make a noticeable, yet gradual change with her through each obstacle she'll have to overcome. However, she is only one character of many others to be introduced down the line.

"And who can forget the cast of characters that Melissa will have to deal with? Well, actually, bad choice of words since none of you have anything to remember from it, so…eh, not the point. The actual point, Melissa will be dealing with a lot of different personalities that a princess probably doesn't deal with on a regular basis."

Melissa tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"

Artemis smirked and hooked her feeler around her. "Come with me, Princess. Let me show you your story summary." She escorted her out of the room.

I sighed. "Ah, good, now I can talk a bit more freely. Anyway, yeah, to anyone who hasn't read the summary yet, Melissa will eventually find herself in league with a group of criminals known as the Foresters. From the beginning, you'll notice Melissa has similar feelings about them that most others in her kingdom feel: dangerous varlets who rob the good people of the kingdom. So, it is a manner of seeing how Melissa is going to get around this mindset when she eventually crosses paths with them.

"The Foresters themselves will be a quirky bunch. Each of them has their own unique trait or defining personality that makes them stand out from the rest. Worth pointing out, while they aren't bad people, they will go to any means to survive and steal…with some exceptions." I smirked. "Keep in mind that the Foresters are supposed to be…unsophisticated and unruly…if there was ever a certain something I have planned later down the line for all of you."

"So, who will be the other characters?" Quinn asked.

"Well, I don't want to give away too much, but here are some names to remember: Jason, Blitz, Jet, Pandora, Basil, Marie, the aforementioned Shade, etc. These are key players in helping Melissa grow as a person. They have their own quirks that should mesh well against Melissa's personality. And you all have seen how timid she can be, so…keep that in mind."

"And when do we expect Bandits of the Forest to come out?" Tony asked.

"I will be posting at midnight on the start of New Year's Day. It might still register as published on New Year's Eve, but that could just be because of where I live. So…12AM (EST) on January 1st. From there, I may update monthly with a new chapter. I would do every two weeks, but I'm not sure I can keep up with my other stuff. That, and I plan to have the first ten chapters of BOTF complete before October. Plus, I'm going to try extra hard to get Tribe of Fusions done before the summer. We are approaching on the end. This may be hard to believe, but we have 24 chapters left of Tribe of Fusions.

"So…definitely possible, but I will have to put more time into writing instead of sleeping in bed and counting clouds, haha. I may even put Secret of the Idol on hold for a week or two to get some more TOF chapters out. Not like I'm anywhere close to done with TSOTI, so it doesn't make a whole lot of difference."

Juniper smiled. "Well, safe to say it has been a great year for Tribe of Fusions. A lot has happened this year for it."

"And a lot more to come for the next few months."

Melissa and Artemis reentered the room, with the princess' jaw hanging open in disbelief. "Wait…I am getting MARRIED?! TO WHO?! WHY?!"

"Ah, a little preview of her freak out! Thank you, Melissa!"

"I am NOT okay with this!"

Artemis snickered and pulled her over to the couch. "Aww, relax and have some hot cocoa, Your Highness!"

"That's probably for the best. With Tribe of Fusions reaching its last year and with Bandits of the Forest on the horizon, we've got a lot to look forward to!" I pulled out a hot cocoa and handed it to Melissa. "Glad to have you on the team, Melissa! Hope to bring more of your world's characters on the show!"

"But I…marriage…AND…" Melissa took a deep breath, then sipped her cocoa, then smiled. "Oh…Merry Christmas, everyone."

I grinned. "Season's greetings to all! Everyone, let's sign off with one big hoorah!"

The gang raised their arms/forelegs and exclaimed in unison:

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"


End file.
